Dhar girls selected for Indian Football team

INDORE: Defeating all the odds, two young girls 15 years-old, Jyoti Chouhan and 16 years-old, Sarita Ninama from Sardarpur, Dhar got selected for the Indian football team. The girls will be representing the country in the under-18 Pacific International School Games to be held at Adelaide, Australia from November 22 to 28.
According to their coach, Shailendra Pal, the girls began training bare foot for football four years back, they were given football shoes to play when they began to show their calibre.Once they began playing for state and national level tournaments the school and district sports department also began to provide help for the players.
They were selected through a trial that took place on July 16 at Bhopal and were shortlisted for the Indian football team at the final trial session at Agra on August 27 this year.
“Both the girls are hail from financially weak families as both of them have lost their fathers and their mothers work to manage the daily needs. Jyoti’s mother works as a labourer and Sarita’s mother prepares mid- day meals for the primary school in the area. Yet they have come up with their dedication and hard work.” said Pal.
Jyoti has a track record of playing 7 national level tournaments whereas Sarita has played 3 national level tournaments.
“We will be going to Australia on Saturday morning for which we have reached Delhi already. Both the girls are very excited to travel abroad for the first time and represent the country. A total of 18 players have been selected from all over the country out of which four are from Madhya Pradesh,” said Pal. Other than Jyoti and Sarita, this same football ground in Dhar has produced around 70 national level football players. a